Nobu Palo Alto Garden Restaurant

The final phase of Shawmut’s renovation to Nobu Hotel Palo Alto was the creation of the Nobu Palo Alto Garden Restaurant, a 4,100 square-foot Japanese-inspired garden by renowned landscape designer Shigeru Namba and Montalba Architects. Aimed at creating harmonious transitions between Nobu Hotel Palo Alto and a neighboring historic storefront, the Nobu Palo Alto Garden Restaurant creates an outdoor extension of the Nobu restaurant and event venue in downtown Palo Alto. There’s dining room seating for 30—under a full-room skylight and with fully retractable glass doors—and outdoor banquette seating for 24—with a retractable awning for sun shading—as well as reception capacity for 60 guests. The lush garden space is sustainably designed to improve air quality, support pollinators, and mitigate urban heat island effect. The garden restaurant is on an adjacent lot to Nobu Hotel Palo Alto, directly behind the hotel and connected to it at three different points. The Shawmut team coordinated extensively with the hotel operations team while constructing the new two-story restaurant and garden to ensure there was no interruption to daily activities and guest service. Clear communication and coordination with the neighbors were also required as cranes were used to set the boulders and some trees.